Northeastern grabs District 3-AA volleyball title

Bobcats sweep Manheim Central, 25-18, 25-18, 25-15

The Northeastern boys' volleyball team celebrates after capturing the District 3-AA title over Manheim Central at Dallastown High School Friday night. The title was the 13th District 3 crown in program history. (By RYAN VANDERSLOOT (For The York Dispatch))

DALLASTOWN - Northeastern boys' volleyball coach Matt Wilson's displeasure with his squad's performance through the first two contests of the District 3-AA playoffs was hardly a secret. A general lack of execution in many facets of their game was the general feeling of Wilson about his team's play.

To put things in perspective, Wilson has an unusually high standard that he expects from his squad. So it shouldn't be too surprising that his team swept both matches nonetheless.

So maybe it was the big stage or the big crowd, but for whatever reason, Wilson couldn't come up with a single critique after Friday night's district championship clash with Manheim Central.

The Bobcats played at, or even above, Wilson's bar throughout the contest and swept the Barons with an impressive 25-18, 25-18, 25-15 triumph.

"There aren't many complaints tonight," Wilson said with a smile. "They did everything that we asked of them. What more can you ask?"

Shortly after the game's final point ended with a Manheim hitting error, the Bobcats were on the court celebrating their third championship - York-Adams regular season, playoff, and now District 3 - of the year.

"This is awesome," said Northeastern freshman standout Reese Devilbiss. "We've been talking about this ever since Wednesday night."

Devilbiss and company were on their game form the onset, forcing an early timeout from the Manheim Central bench. The Bobcats were crisp with their defense and blocking, the latter of which has been a major point of emphasis by Wilson and his coaching staff.

"I've been critical of our blocking all year," Wilson said. "But it's funny. When you get into a big match against a really good opponent, sometimes it's just a matter of seeing that opponent over there and you start to dig deeper. But I thought we scouted it well and, at the end of the day, they implemented the scouting report and put ourselves in good spots."

While the Bobcats were seemingly getting to almost every Baron attack, the challenge was much more difficult for Manheim Central. Setter Luke Braswell was distributing the ball around to all of Northeastern's hitters throughout the night. In total, six Bobcats registered at least three kills, led by senior Stephen Braswell's 12 kills.

"This is a complete dream," said Luke Braswell, who dished out 24 assists for the contest. "Every hitter that I have typically I know that when I set them we're going to get a kill or something positive out of it."

Devilbiss finished with eight kills, while Philip White added six more in the victory. Casey Winand, who has been an emerging threat along with White in the postseason, added three kills and two blocks.

"They've both progressed well," Luke Braswell said. "Especially Casey. He's our undersized middle. He doesn't jump too high, but he knows how to put a ball away. (Other team) don't take him seriously, because he is shorter, but he's been pushing the gut."

White made his mark on the contest with an impressive three-point individual run early in Game 2. From the service line, White was able to put away balls from the back-row on back-to-back attempts before forcing a Manheim timeout with one of his two aces for the match.

"Philip has progressed very strongly," Luke Braswell said. "He's become one of my outsider (hitters) that I can go to."

In Game 3, the Barons appeared ready to stretch the match a little longer after trailing early. The Lancaster-Lebanon League team cut the deficit to 15-14 midway through the third game.

Just as it looked like the Barons were primed for a comeback, the Bobcats responded emphatically by finishing out the triumph with an impressive 10-1 run.

For many of the Northeastern players, Friday's victory was their first taste of a District 3 title, which was the 13th in the program's illustrious history. Stephen Braswell, however, is an exception, having played sparingly en route to the 2011 squad's District 3 and PIAA titles.

The medal that he earned Friday night, however, is truly much more special for Northeastern's senior leader.

"This one is different for me," he said. "Being a senior along with the other three seniors that we have...this one's special."

Showdown looming: While it has been normal for the District 3 champion to draw one of the lowest seeds in the first-round of the PIAA tournament, this year will be an exception. That's because the PIAA bracket failed to include a spot for District 11 in the field, a slot likely reserved for defending state champion Bethlehem Catholic.

Since Bethlehem Catholic is the only AA team in District 11, they were supposed to have been included in the District 2 championship field. But for some reason there was a breakdown in communication between the PIAA the the two districts.

"(Bethlehem Catholic) was supposed to have played in the District 2 tournament," Wilson said. "But back in October that was never communicated with anybody...online, to the PVCA, or to the districts. So on Monday when the released (the PIAA bracket), everyone went 'wait, what's this?' They weren't invited to the District 2 tournament and District 2 didn't put them in. Otherwise, if they win it, they'd have the District 2-1 spot, which is on the opposite side of us. So what District 2 said was that they could play their fourth-place team for that spot."

As a result the Golden Hawks are on a likely collision course with the Bobcats next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Cumberland Valley High School. In the latest Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association poll, Northeastern was ranked No. 1 while Bethlehem Catholic was at No. 3.

"It's going to be two very good teams," Wilson said. "I don't think too many people are going to argue that fact."